


After the Play

by CobraOnTheCob



Series: Katara gets Agency and a better story as a result [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang critical, Aang salt, Anti Kataang, Anti-Kataang, F/M, I let Katara swear as a little treat, Missing Scene, born from a meta, canon compatible, discussions of non-consensual kisses, post-ember island players
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:33:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26858263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CobraOnTheCob/pseuds/CobraOnTheCob
Summary: After the play, Katara needs to vent out her feelings.And then a friend checks in on her.Alternatively: why did Zuko stop Katara from talking to Aang when he stormed off after the Ozai argument?
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Katara gets Agency and a better story as a result [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959325
Comments: 25
Kudos: 141





	After the Play

**Author's Note:**

> "Nightfalcon why is this tagged Zutara if there isn't any romantic Zutara" well first off sweetie have you met me. anyways it's tagged Zutara because this is the first installment in a series that's eventually going to lead to Zutara.

She takes out her frustration through her bending.

As soon as they got home, Katara asked Toph to raise multiple dummies for her to waterbend at, which Toph gladly obliged to do. Sokka was surprised at the request, but Katara merely told him that the play frustrated her and she needed to get her frustrations out.

She doesn’t know how long she’s been doing this, using only a small amount of water to strike the dummies. She wanted to prepare herself for the next time someone tried anything like Aang did earlier that evening and she only had a waterskin’s worth of water to protect herself. Aside from just punching a dummy, which would hurt, and short of asking to train with Suki in hand-to-hand combat right now when she figured all Suki wanted to do was to sleep, Katara decided to practice close-quarters combat with waterbending. She would step up to the dummy, up close and personal, then step back enough to make the strike. 

She repeats this movement over and over again, trying not to replay that moment in her mind. 

_Lips that don’t feel right, it wasn’t anything like her first kiss ever, the one with Jet, where she wanted to kiss him, this ‘kiss’ felt something in between the kiss she had to give in the Cave of Two Lovers and when Aang kissed her on the day of the invasion. Insistent, forced, wrong, passionless -_

With another frustrated shout, the water she was bending turned into an icicle and she sent it into the dummy’s shoulder, and she realized how lethal that action could be.

What would she do with Aang if he tried that again? She didn’t want to see him hurt - he’s the Avatar, and he’ll face Ozai one day, she can’t make a move that would cripple him, but he needed a sense of boundaries knocked into him. Melting the ice and bending the water back into the waterskin, she sank to her knees and leaned back against the stone dummy, and remained there for a few minutes. She stared off into space, trying to calm herself down in a non-physical manner. Footsteps approached, and she knew who it was.

Of course he’d check on her, even so late at night.

“Katara? What’s wrong?” Zuko asked, a flame in his left palm, and she dared to look at him, he took that as an invite to sit down. 

“Nothing,” Katara managed to ground out, and Zuko’s eyebrow raised at the lie. 

“So asking Toph to make dummies for you to beat up this late at night is nothing?” Zuko asked.

“I rise with the moon, remember?” Katara joked and tried to deflect Zuko’s prying at the same time. 

“Don’t remind me,” Zuko said, facepalming with his right hand slightly before looking her in the eyes, “What’s on your mind?”

“Do you really want to know?” Katara asked quietly. 

“Only if you want to tell me,” Zuko said, and Katara couldn’t help it. Zuko was her friend now, but she’d only started seeing him in a friendly light for about two weeks now. 

Something has changed now, and Katara wasn’t quite sure what it was. All she knew was that she was willing to tell Zuko about something that happened to her and she could trust him not to react like Sokka - ranting with his boomerang and not listening to her, or Aang - who’d probably go into the Avatar State instead of hearing her out, and thus, raising her stress levels. Or maybe he’d kiss her problems away, in the childish way of thinking that kisses solved everything.

Speaking of kisses…

“When the intermission came,” Katara began, “I went to look for Aang. I found him on the balcony and we talked.” Katara paused here, trying to keep the lump growing in her throat from stopping her voice.

“About what?”

“He was upset about his portrayal...and mine,” she said, “He left during the cave scene where our actors, uh, made out.” She paused again, looking at Zuko.

“And?” 

“He...he just...he’s a damn child!” Katara burst out suddenly, “How immature do you have to be to think something on-stage is exactly what happened in real life?!”

“What?” Zuko was clearly startled at her outburst, but Katara couldn’t hold it back anymore.

“He asked if what I said onstage was true,” Katara said quickly, and she wondered if her voice was shaking from her trying not to laugh or to cry, “And I tried to tell him - “

“That what was said onstage was by an actor,” Zuko finished for her, and she nodded. 

“I told him that, and he was still upset. You know what he said?” Katara asked, and before Zuko could even answer, she hedged on, “He said ‘If I hadn’t blocked my chakra, I’d probably be in the Avatar State right now!’ Does he even _know what that sounds like to me?!”_

“What does that sound like to you?” Zuko asked quietly.

“To me, he’s willing to let his emotions take the reins and endanger us all - by revealing where we are first off, and second, endangering the lives of everyone. You know firsthand how dangerous the uncontrolled Avatar State is. And honestly? That scares me, because every time, _I_ have to pull him out of the Avatar State. Only I have been willing to calm him down, and that’s the problem. He thinks I’m the solution and his forever girl.” 

“I don’t know where to start with all of that,” Zuko says quietly, “Except that I’m sorry that you’ve had to take him out of the Avatar State on your own.” Katara laughs at this.

“Oh, he can’t access the Avatar State,” she almost whispers, even though Zuko is the only other person around, “He admitted that much to me last night.”

“What do you mean, can’t access the Avatar State?” Zuko asks, the question loaded with surprise.

“Azula’s lightning twisted up the energy and I guess he can’t just clear it out,” Katara said, “But yeah, I’m glad he can’t. For once...he’ll see that he can’t get his way by throwing an elemental tantrum.” She chuckles darkly, and Zuko shifts, obviously caught off-guard by her negative view of Aang.

“That’s one way to describe the Avatar State,” Zuko comments drily, and Katara remembers that Zuko had only seen Aang in the Avatar State twice, and one was out of self-preservation and the other was actually when he could control the Avatar State, and wasn’t around for when Aang lashed out at the sandbenders - truly the epitome of an elemental tantrum that she had to deal with. She prayed to the spirits that she would never have to do that again. 

“Anyways, he asked if what my actress was saying was true, which…” Katara trails off at that, unable to explain.

“Oh,” is all Zuko says, and she can tell he’s shifting uncomfortably, as if ready to leave. 

“Don’t leave!” Katara says quickly, reaching out to him but not quite touching him, and Zuko’s good eye widens.

“I wasn’t, I just...if you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to,” Zuko says and Katara blinks.

“I do want to tell you, Zuko,” she softly says.

“Me?” Zuko laughs nervously, “Why me?”

“Because I trust you,” Katara says and Zuko’s mouth falls open slightly.

“You trust me…?”

“Of course I do. Trusted you since our field trip.” Katara affirmed. 

“Okay,” he said.

“That’s not the worst part,” Katara said, her voice shaking slightly, but she pushed through, “He asked why I didn’t want to love him the way he loves me - “

“Oh,” is all Zuko says. Katara can’t tell what he’s thinking, but from the sound of his voice, he’s most likely surprised because she’s aware that Aang was in love with her.

Kind of hard to miss those signals when someone kisses you twice. 

“And to be honest? I never really thought about why I don’t love him that way.” she says, “But I knew that if I told him the truth, he’d get mad, so I just...lied to him by saying I was confused.”

“Are you okay?” Zuko asked when Katara paused for too long, trying not to cry. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she says, “And then he kissed me.”

“What?!” Zuko burst out, “He can’t - that’s...that’s just wrong!”

“I know!” Katara snapped, “I pulled back, yelled at him that I was confused, and then I left him. I just...why? WHY would he think it was a good idea to kiss me?”

“I don’t know, Kat,” Zuko said, “All I know is that behavior is unacceptable and I’m sorry that you had to deal with it.”

“Thank you, Zuko,” she said, “I don’t know what I’ll do now, though.”

“What do you mean?” 

“I can’t exactly confront him yet, he has to face Ozai and - “

“And what?”

“If I tell him that I’m not interested in being with him romantically, he’s going to be off his game and lose!”

“I see your point. But what are you going to do when morning comes?” Katara groaned at the question.

“Probably hope he doesn’t bring it up again, and if he does, I’m just going to send him to you or Toph,” she said.

“It’ll hurt him if you delay it, but I see your point,” Zuko said, “Kid’s more flighty than a songbird, and if something dares to disrupt his perfect plan, he’d be a mess. Sozin’s comet is way too close for him to be off his game.”

“I feel bad,” Katara said, “But I don’t want to be the reason the world goes up in flames.”

“He shouldn’t make you feel like this,” Zuko said, and when Katara’s breath shook, he asked, “Um, do you...need a hug?”

“Yeah, I could use one,” she said, and they embraced in the dark, “Thanks.”

“We should probably rest,” Zuko said after a minute.

“Right,” Katara chuckled, “‘You rise with the sun - ‘“

“I swear to Agni you’re never going to let me live that down, aren’t you?” Zuko said, but she can hear the humor in his voice.

“Not if you don’t go to sleep,” she said.

“I would ask if you would, but I remembered that you’re an cat owl,” Zuko said, and Katara laughed.

“You got that right, but it’s been a long day,” she said, and both walked back to the house.

* * *

When an upset Aang storms off, Zuko sees Katara make a move to stop him.

Maybe confront him alone.

That cannot happen.

Last time Katara and Aang were alone, Aang kissed Katara without her consent. Afterwards, she vented her feelings by sparring with several dummies, before talking to him when he found her.

No one deserved to be kissed without their consent, and certainly not a second time.

He has two reasons to stop her from going after Aang: he knows that Aang needed space - for he was like Aang not long ago - and also so that Aang’s heart doesn’t get the better of him.

Besides, there was only an hour before everyone went to sleep, so why try and push a conversation that’ll only make the group more tense and anxious? 

Perhaps in the morning, tempers would have cooled off long enough.

It’s five people’s opinions against the Avatar’s, but he hopes Aang would understand why Ozai needed to die.

He could hope, after all.


End file.
